Jeff Brady
Jeff Brady is a National Desk Correspondent based in Philadelphia, where he covers energy issues, climate change and the mid-Atlantic region. Brady helped establish NPR's environment and energy collaborative which brings together NPR and Member station reporters from across the country to cover the big stories involving the natural world.
Brady approaches energy stories from the consumer side of the light switch and the gas pump in an effort to demystify an industry that can seem complicated and opaque. Frequently traveling throughout the country for NPR, Brady has reported on the Texas oil business hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the closing of a light bulb factory in Pennsylvania and a new generation of climate activists holding protests from Oregon to New York. In 2017 his reporting showed a history of racism and sexism that have made it difficult for the oil business to diversify its workforce.
In 2011 Brady led NPR's coverage of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State—from the night legendary football coach Joe Paterno was fired to the trial where Sandusky was found guilty.
In 2005, Brady was among the NPR reporters who covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His reporting on flooded cars left behind after the storm exposed efforts to stall the implementation of a national car titling system. Today, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System is operational and the Department of Justice estimates it could save car buyers up to $11 billion a year.
Before coming to NPR in September 2003, Brady was a reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) in Portland. He has also worked in commercial television as an anchor and a reporter, and in commercial radio as a talk-show host and reporter.
Brady graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University). In 2018 SOU honored Brady with its annual "Distinguished Alumni" award.
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The Trump administration wants to reverse a rule that would have required new coal plants to have expensive technology to capture their carbon dioxide emissions. -
Legal battles and local tensions persist two years after the North Dakota prairie was filled with thousands of indigenous and environmental protesters opposed to the Dakota Access Pipeline. -
After Struggles, North Dakota Grows Into Its Ongoing Oil BoomThe U.S. recently became the world's biggest producer of crude oil. The ongoing oil boom has transformed Great Plains towns like Watford City, North Dakota. -
In North Dakota, the Republican-controlled government has changed voter identification requirements. That's prompting confusion for many Democratic-leaning Native Americans.
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Michael Recovery: Updating The Power Grid To Withstand Climate Change, Bigger StormsHurricane Michael left a million people without power. As storms grow stronger, there are questions about how make the nation's electrical grid more resilient.
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How do we discuss sexual assault and consent with teenage boys? A Jewish organization based near Philadelphia has developed a program to discuss difficult topics such as this in an all-male setting. -
Around the country, communities are learning their drinking water is polluted with a potentially harmful group of chemicals. The Trump administration is working on a plan to manage them. -
Inmates and staff at a a number of U.S. prisons have gotten sick recently, apparently due to exposure to illegal drugs. More than two dozen workers at Pennsylvania prisons became ill, prompting a lockdown of all the state's prisons.
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Oil and gas pipeline opponents have a new legal strategy. They're encouraging states to exercise rights granted in the Clean Water Act to stop new pipeline construction. -
On the anniversary of last year's deadly protest in Charlottesville, Va., a very small number of white supremacists gathered in Washington, D.C., for the "Unite The Right 2" rally.
